One of the most unsettling aspects of the Montreal Canadiens last season was how poor the club was late in periods and late in games.
In the second half of the season, the problem picked up even more. The team wasn't in good shape. They didn't practice hard enough. In fact, the club had a lot of days off, not skating at all to preserve their energy for the next game. When Bob Gainey took over for Guy Carbonneau I remember very well that day I was excited to go to Brossard and see what Gainey wanted to work on, what he wanted to change to improve the club.
I was incredulous to learn that the first opportunity to have a full practice was actually a day off. Didn't Bob want to teach something? Nope, more importantly, he wanted to make sure his tired troops were well rested for the next one.
Bag skates
Now we fast forward to the next season and the Montreal Canadiens practices are quite simply faster, harder, longer and everything that they need to be to keep an athlete in such high physical condition that he doesn't need a day off every second day. Jacques Martin finished training camp by putting the Habs through a bag skate. This is a term players use to signify that after practice they are bagged.
Finishing kick
Look at how the results early in this season support the fact that training camp was more demanding and led to a higher cardiovascular reading for the players. Whereas last season, the final moments of a period and a game were horrendous with the Habs hanging on, this season the best moments are as the clock ticks down. In the final minutes of regulation in Toronto, Glen Metropolit is full of energy to score the tying marker. Overtime in the same game and Josh Gorges has the lung capacity to pinch down low toward the net during the last fifteen seconds to pot the game winner from eight feet. Again in Buffalo, it was the Habs playing some of their best hockey late to win in overtime on the Brian Gionta marker. In Calgary, game three and more examples: two goals in the final two minutes of the first period with Gomez and Latendresse scoring, and one goal in the final 11 seconds of the middle frame as Tomas Plekanec counts. Three games into the season and already six examples of the Habs scoring late in a period or late in a game to steal points that would have otherwise been lost.
A coach can mean so much to a team, and in Jacques Martin you see how much his vast experience helps his players get into a situation that allows them at least a chance to succeed.
Talent, dedication, hard work, systems, goaltending, so much goes into a winning team, but this season, it's finally safe to say that the Habs won't be losing because they couldn't catch their breath.
